''Phellopsis porcata'' is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

of the Family

Zopheridae The Zopheridae family of beetles has grown considerably in recent years as the members of two other families have been included within its circumscription; these former families are the Monommatidae and the Colydiidae, which are now both incl ...

. Its range includes parts of North America.

Biology

Both adults and larvae feed on fungi, including ''

Piptoporus betulinus ''Fomitopsis betulina'' (previously ''Piptoporus betulinus''), commonly known as the birch polypore, birch bracket, or razor strop, is a common bracket fungus and, as the name suggests, grows almost exclusively on birch trees. The brackets burs ...

'' (

Polyporales The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus ''Lentinus''). Many species within ...

) on birch (''

Betula papyrifera ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

'', '' B. lenta'') and ''

Heterobasidion annosum ''Heterobasidion annosum'' is a basidiomycete fungus in the family Bondarzewiaceae. It is considered to be the most economically important forest pathogen in the Northern Hemisphere. ''Heterobasidion annosum'' is widespread in forests in the Unit ...

'' (

Bondarzewiaceae The Bondarzewiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. The type species for both its genus and the family as a whole, ''Bondarzewia montana'', closely resembles members of Polyporales (and was formerly placed there), but has ornament ...

) on balsam fir (''

Abies balsamea ''Abies balsamea'' or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to ...

'').They have also been reported to feed on fungi on western hemlock (''

Tsuga heterophylla ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

'') and on ''

Lentinus ''Lentinus'' is a genus of fungi in the family Polyporaceae. The genus is widely distributed, with many species found in subtropical regions. The genus name ''Lentinus'' is derived from the Latin ''lent'', meaning "pliable", and ''inus'', mean ...

'' (

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymeniu ...

). Adults feed on the surface, while larvae burrow into the substrate When threatened, adult beetles will use

thanatosis Apparent death, colloquially known as playing dead, feigning death, or playing possum, is a behavior in which animals take on the appearance of being dead. It is an immobile state most often triggered by a predatory attack and can be found in a ...

(feigning death) to avoid predators. This behavior is known from several other species in the

Zopherinae Zopherinae is a subfamily of beetles, commonly known as ironclad beetles. Together with the subfamily Usechinae, they have been treated historically as a family, but have recently been joined by several additional taxa, making the Zopheridae ...

Range

It is found in the western United States and Canada.

References

Zopheridae Beetles of North America Beetles described in 1853 {{Zopheridae-stub